Azernews.Az

BAKU – The cost of full-scale development (second phase) of Azerbaijan’s giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea is estimated at $20-22 billion, said Seymur Khalilov, Vice President of BP Azerbaijan, which operates the project.

This funding is required not only for the construction of platforms and drilling, but also for expansion of the Sangachal terminal, the installation of compressor stations, and construction of new pipelines.

Khalilov said the amount of the required investments indicates the great importance of the project.

A total of $25 billion has been invested in tapping the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil fields, another BP-operated project, the first stage of the Shahdaniz field, creating the Sangachal oil terminal, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline.

First gas during the second stage of Shahdaniz development is to be produced in 2017. According to projections, gas production can be brought up to 25 billion cubic meters a year during the second stage of the project.

The Shahdaniz field holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.

The contract to develop the Shahdaniz field was signed in June 1996. Shahdaniz shareholders are: BP (25.5 percent), Statoil (25.5 percent), NICO (10 percent), Total (10 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), TPAO (9 percent) and Azerbaijan’s state energy firm Socar (10 percent).